Chapter 33: Excitement

Ren Shu was still in shock, glancing nervously at Zhuque as if seeking his approval.

“How? Do you need me to help you up?” Zhuque asked with a smile.

“N-no… I don’t…” Ren Shu trembled as she struggled to her feet.

After a long pause, she turned to Qixia and said, “Thank you! Thank you!”

Qixia shook his head. “You don’t have to thank me, I just…”

A sudden “thud.”

Before Qixia could finish, he saw a hand pierce through Ren Shu’s abdomen.

Her body stiffened, and her voice cut off abruptly.

Warm, sticky blood splattered all over Qixia.

From behind, Zhuque slowly embraced Ren Shu, as if holding a lover.

“This child is so polite,” Zhuque said, his eyes closed as he pressed his face against hers, seeming to inhale her scent. “Saying ‘thank you’ is a good habit, but you broke the rules by trying to escape. He might have let you go, but I won’t.”

With that, Zhuque extended his other hand, removed Ren Shu’s mask, and tossed it to the ground.

Qixia and Ren Shu were face to face now, and he could see clearly.

This “Ren Shu” was clearly just a teenage girl.

Her face still held the softness of youth, her tear-filled eyes full of fear and despair, and blood coughed from her mouth.

“It… hurts so much…” Ren Shu spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood.

“There, there… it won’t hurt soon…” Zhuque nuzzled her hair with his nose. “You’ll die any moment now. Relax… just relax… it’ll all end once you’re dead…”

“What kind of freak are you?!” Qiao Ji Jin couldn’t stand it anymore. “She’s just a kid! I’ll beat you senseless… Let her go!”

Zhuque let out a cold laugh, withdrew his blood-drenched hand, and shoved Ren Shu forward.

Instinctively, Qixia caught the girl, his expression full of shock.

That was exactly what “gambling for life” meant.

If he won, the other would die.

Even if he didn’t want her life, she would still die.

This girl called Ren Shu had been driven to her death by Qixia.

He had thought he was only risking his own life, but he never imagined the other side would demand the same stakes.

Weren’t they one of the game’s hosts?

Were these animal masks some kind of “participants” too?

“Qixia, why are you here?” Zhuque flicked the blood from his hand and asked coldly.

“Wha…” Qixia was stunned, looking up at him. “You know my name?”

Zhuque’s lips curved slightly, then he pointed at the four of them in turn, saying, “Qixia, Qiao Ji Jin, Lin Geng, Zhang Lijuan. Why are all of you here?”

Zhang Lijuan was also startled— that was her real name, but she hadn’t used it since she was fourteen.

“What do you mean by ‘why are we here’?” Lin Geng asked. “If we’re not here, where should we be?”

Zhuque’s face bore that same enigmatic smile as he slowly shook his head. “It seems you truly don’t know why you’re here. How tragic.”

“If you have something to say, just say it outright. What’s with all the mystery?” Qixia held the dying Ren Shu in his arms, his gaze icy cold. “Do you think being evasive makes you look profound?”

At those words, Zhuque’s eyes grew stern, and the smile vanished from his face.

“Qixia, I knew we wouldn’t get along,” Zhuque said contemptuously. “You’ll never escape. Just rot here.”

“Oh?” Even in this situation, Qixia had nothing left to fear, pressing on aggressively. “Rot here? Are you going to kill me now?”

In a flash, Zhuque darted to Qixia’s side, his feathered cloak billowing behind him.

He grabbed Qixia’s collar and snarled, “If not for the rules, I’d tear you apart right here!”

“So that means… according to the ‘rules,’ you can’t kill me,” Qixia replied.

“Heh…” Zhuque’s smile returned. “I don’t have to kill you— you’ll die here anyway.”

Under the group’s watchful eyes, Zhuque slowly floated into the air, like a deity.

“Why do you think I’ll die here?” Qixia asked, looking up.

“Because you’re Qixia, so you’re destined to die here.” Zhuque snorted coldly, then vanished into thin air.

He didn’t fly away like an immortal in a TV drama or vanish with a magical glow— he simply disappeared from the air in an instant.

The sudden change left everyone baffled.

“Because I’m Qixia… so I’ll die here?”

“Cough…” Ren Shu coughed in Qixia’s arms.

Qixia looked down at her. The girl’s face was clean, as if she didn’t belong in this world.

His feelings were mixed. If he hadn’t chosen to gamble for life, this girl probably wouldn’t have met this fate.

Thinking about it, she hadn’t done anything against him from the start.

One “Dao” for another “Dao.”

Maybe, as she said, he’d never find a game so simple and safe again.

Ren Shu reached into her pocket and slowly pulled out three “Dao,” then said with difficulty, “What a shame… I waited here for so long, and you’re the first group of participants. I thought I could earn some ‘Dao’…”

She handed the “Dao” to Qixia and continued haltingly, “One of these is your ticket here, and the other three are my own ‘Dao.’ They’re all yours now…”

The four of them stared at the girl, at a loss for words.

By all rights, they should be enemies. Yet her helplessness and despair struck a deep, indefinable chord in them.

“Are you some kind of participant too?” Qixia asked coldly.

Ren Shu laughed at that, fresh blood flowing from her mouth again. “Who here isn’t a ‘participant’? Honestly… I’d rather be like you, never having to wear the ‘Rat’ mask… Even though none of us can get out…”

Her head lolled to one side, and her arm dropped to the ground.

The two women sighed beside them, and even Qiao Ji Jin looked sorrowful.

But Qixia’s expression remained as cold as ever.

He gently laid the girl on the ground and slowly stood up, his thoughts unknown.

“Qixia… are you okay?” Lin Geng asked.

“Me?” Qixia paused slightly. “Do I look like something’s wrong?”

“Because your face shows no emotion at all… That’s not normal.”

“I…”

Before he could finish, Qixia suddenly clutched his head in agony, letting out a piercing scream as he crouched down.

“Hey! Kid!” Qiao Ji Jin sensed something was off— Qixia had experienced this headache when Han Yi Mo died earlier that morning.

Qixia felt like his skull was splitting open, as if something was throbbing deep in his brain.